He loves her, she loves me, I love?
by traumschwinge
Summary: A high school AU. Roderich, Elizabetha and Gilbert had been best friends since junior high. But when Gilbert confesses his love to Elizabetha, Roderich has no idea how he could be a good friend anymore. Despite the title not a first-person pow fic.


"Please go out with me!"

Roderich hadn't intended to witness a scene like that. He had been on his way back to the class room at the end of lunch break. Turning around an edge, he had almost run into his best friends. When he heard what they were talking about, he quickly hid behind the corner again. He didn't want them to see him spying on them.

"What?"

Roderich gripped his shirt at the height of his chest. He didn't want to watch that. He leaned against the cold wall. His chest suddenly felt so tight. So he loved her after all.

"I want you to go on a date with me this Saturday!"

Roderich had heard enough. He wanted to get away but his feet didn't want to move. He hadn't been supposed to see or hear that. If he would just be able to walk away now and forget it, everything would be alright.

He picked up the bag he had unconsciously dropped. His hands were shaking. He hadn't even noticed he had dropped it. He hurried back inside. He didn't even wait for the outcome.

He just hoped he could pretend nothing had happened when he saw them next.

点点点

They were on their way home together, when Gilbert spilled the beans.

"I got rejected by Elizabetha today."

Roderich looked at him in surprise. He hadn't expected this outcome at all. Deep down, he had wished for it, but he never had expected it.

The look in his friend's eyes hurt him so much.

He awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "Don't give up," he told his friend. "Maybe you just had a bad timing."

"That's not it," Gilbert sighed. "She said she liked you – you of all people. I can't even be really jealous because of that. We're friends after all, right?"

Roderich nodded. "Right," he said. He knew he should have felt betrayed by his friend because he had hit on Elizabetha. He was so relieved that he couldn't.

They walked a bit in silence. Finally, Gilbert ruffled his hair. "Damn it," he cursed. "Promise me you won't go out with her. Please? I couldn't stand that." He looked so desperate.

"I won't," Roderich quickly replied. He never had intended to. He liked the things between them as they were. He liked the three of them being friends.

"Promise?" Gilbert held out his pinkie like a little kid.

"Promise." Roderich locked his pinkie with Gilbert's and shook it. "I won't go out with her as long as you're in love with her." He looked down at their fingers while he said that.

He didn't want Gilbert to see the unspoken words in his eyes.

点点点

"… I liked you for a very long time, so … would you … consider starting to go out with me?"

Elizabetha had asked to talk to him at lunch break. He had watched out to only see her when he was with Gilbert these past days but he couldn't have declined this time. He already had twice with some fishy reasons. He would have thought she might already have figured it out.

"i- I like you as well," he stuttered. Why was this so hard to say? Wasn't it obvious what he had to say considering his own feelings? "But not like that." He shook his head.

Seeing her smile crumble almost tore his heart apart. She looked as if she was about to cry. "But why?" she asked flatly.

"Because…" Roderich bit his lips. He couldn't possibly tell her the truth. "I like the three of us being friends. I don't want to loose that."

"But we can still be friends."

Roderich shook his head. "We can't and you know this as well as I do." He sighed. He didn't want this to be so hard. "Gilbert's in love with you."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away. "So?"

"I don't want him to hate me," Roderich mumbled.

"Why are you always so considerate when it comes to him?!" she yelled at him. He had expected this but he still flinched. She always got mad when she felt like crying. "Why can't you be like that when it comes to me?" She raised her hands to cover her eyes.

Roderich opened and closed his hand a few times. He wanted to go over to her and hug her. He didn't like seeing her cry, not because of him. "…considerate," he whispered.

She looked up. "Huh?"

"I'm considerate when it comes to you," he repeated louder. "I- I just think I'm … you could … I mean, you would be better off with Gilbert, not with me. I …. I only would make you sad in the end. I'm far worse than what you deserve."

"Can't- can't I decide what I deserve," her voice was creaking. She quickly wiped her eyes. He could hear her curse her tears. Now that he came to think of it, he hadn't ever seen her cry before.

"Gilbert loves you," Roderich repeated. It was the only thing he could think of for days now. "He loves you…"

He walked over and finally hugged her. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't want this to happen…"

She just clung to him for a while. He could feel her shaking and her tears were soaking his shirt. "I really though you liked me back," she whispered after a while.

He just patted her back. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, you're not," she said. She wiped her eyes clean one last time before she looked at him. "Why don't you tell him?"

Roderich shook his head. "What for? I want him to be happy. He doesn't need to know that to be happy."

She looked up at the sky. "You're really weird sometimes," she laughed. "That's one of the things I like about you."

"I really am, huh," he said, gazing up himself.

"I really want to stay by his side some more, even if it's just a little while."


End file.
